4823-R1_CIC_April2017_Calendar_Web

Chebeague Island Library

846-4351 phone • 846-4358 fax cheblib@hotmail.com http://chebeague.chebeague.lib.me.us/winnebago/search/search.asp

Winter Hours

NEW MOVIES • Fences • Kubo and the Two Strings NEW BOOKS • The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben

Sun & Mon

Closed

Tuesday

4 p.m. – 8 p.m.

Wednesday 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. Thursday 4 p.m. – 8 p.m. Friday 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. Saturday 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. Note: Unfortunately, our online catalogue isn’t functioning. New acquisitions can be seen on our webpage. Please either call or email if you are looking for a book. Please like our new Facebook page!

One Man’s Island by Bob Libby

Where we live in April is an inspiration. Think about it: the month begins with a day dedicated to practical jokes and chicanery. Be wary parents. Someone may put salt in the sugar bowl. Someone may tie knots in your punt’s bow line. I have a friend who years ago would put flocks of pink plastic flamingos in yards all over the island. Some years Mother Nature pranks us with a big snowstorm just when we believe spring has arrived. I remember one Easter when I was five or six and all dressed up for church and there was six inches of snow around the tulips, daffodils, and crocuses. Even songbirds are confused by odd weather. Robins return to the island on warm winds, only to discover frozen ground. April is also opening day at Fenway Park and the hope that springs eternal in Red Sox Nation will afflict many of us as we go about our spring chores, raking and mending, scraping and painting, listening to play-by- play narratives on the truck or boat radio. The Great Chebeague Golf Club will turn green this month; Cary will return and groom the fairways, bunkers, and greens. Gradually, a few golfers will appear and walk down the fifth slope by the shore that David Nyhan dubbed the “Pebble Beach of Maine.” For now though, the Canada geese outnumber the golfers.

At the boat yard shrink wrap is being discarded, masts are stepped, and one after another boats that have sat idle return to Casco Bay. The town crew puts the punt floats back at Stone Wharf; the dock barge rehangs the floats on our neighbors’ piers. The local boating commuters start racing the Islander across the sound. April is poetry month, and the poetry group will meet at the library and share a love for all things lyrical. Some of us will be presenting public readings of new poems. Performing poetry is like birdsong, something we are compelled to do. April is Patriots’ Day and all that now conjures in New England and island minds: revolutionary history, horrible acts of terrorism appended to our cherished Boston Marathon tradition, and a most devastating example of how extreme weather events can challenge our small community. Looking at the island from Cousins Wharf, one can see the rosy blush of buds on all the hardwoods along the shore. Our magnolia tree is the first to blossom before any other trees have even leafed out. The Recompense daffodils appear in clusters along the road sides. Sea ducks are trailed in the cove by lines of ducklings, and near the ponds the roar of spring peepers fills the warm air. April is always an inspiration.

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APRIL 2017 CHEBEAGUE ISLAND COUNCIL CALENDAR